Jeffrey Flocken2015-03-03T14:02:27-05:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=jeffrey-flockenCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Jeffrey FlockenGood old fashioned elbow grease.Stop Senseless Trophy Huntingtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2015:/theblog//3.65252802015-01-22T15:18:08-05:002015-01-22T15:59:01-05:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/auctioning off an elephant hunt in Africa as part of their annual fundraising gala. This sadly echoes the club's auction last year for the opportunity to kill a critically endangered black rhino in Namibia -- a stunt that raised $350,000 in the dubious name of "conservation" and also raised the disdain of citizens around the world who could not see the sense in killing an animal in danger of extinction for sport. Despite the club's effort to pass off the rhino auction as a conservation initiative, they have since hinted that they will withdraw their conservation funding pledge if they are denied a permit to bring the trophy from the hunt back to the U.S., thereby stripping away the conservation rhetoric and showing it to be merely the blood-sport safari that most people suspected it always was.

With the club's recent announcement of the latest hunt auction, they moved the debate about killing imperiled species for sport into the public eye again, this time with a different beloved and imperiled animal, the African elephant.

In reality there is no debate. Americans overwhelmingly reject sport hunting of elephants; A recent poll conducted by the Beekeeper Group on behalf of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) found that 89 percent of Americans oppose hunting elephants for sport.* And that same poll found that 83 percent of Americans want the U.S. to ban all imports of sport-hunted elephant trophies in light of elephant population declines. But despite this clear mandate to end trophy hunts, the killing continues: Between 2003 and 2012, the U.S. averaged almost 400 sport-hunted elephant trophy imports a year. This is roughly half of the global total killed for sport during that same decade.

Elephants -- like rhinos -- are in the midst of a poaching crisis. They are being slaughtered for their valuable ivory tusks across Africa, at the rate of 1 every 15 minutes on average -- or 35,000 a year. With fewer than half a million left in the wild, this rate of killing could lead them to extinction in the near future.

Elephants are intelligent, social animals that have an understanding of death and loss, and a bullet is a bullet, whether it comes from the barrel of a rich American or a Sudanese militant. It is still just as violent and brutal a death. Killing elephants for sport is both barbaric and unnecessary -- and particularly troubling in light of the current crisis.

Luckily, someone reconsidered the elephant hunt auction this weekend, and the club announced that the hunting package including an elephant kill would be withdrawn from the gala auction before the event started. And while I and other animal-lovers are glad to see this particular hunt pulled off the table, it bears little consolation for the hundreds of other elephants killed for "sport" each year.

The Dallas Safari Club has made much of the fact that African elephants are not categorized as "endangered" under U.S. law. This is splitting hairs at best, as the species is currently listed as "vulnerable" -- or having a high risk of extinction in the wild -- by the IUCN Red List, and "threatened" under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, which means that it is "likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range." Just because they don't have the official "endangered" designation certainly doesn't mean that they aren't imperiled, and the club is inherently saying that their policy is to kill until the crisis is nearly absolute. Not to mention that African elephants received their threatened status back in 1978; since then they have lost half of their habitat, and 60 percent of their population.

In 2014, the U.S. made a bold move by suspending imports of elephant trophies taken from Tanzania and Zimbabwe, based on concerns about these countries' wildlife management practices. An even bolder move is called for given the global elephant crisis -- since no one is denying African elephants are facing extinction if current rates of killing continue, why not extend that ban to all elephant trophy import into the U.S.? We do not need to be adding to the threats hastening the demise of this species.

Dallas Safari Club's argument boils down to an oxymoron: "We must kill them to save them." It doesn't make sense, and it just isn't true; IFAW and other organizations are working with communities on the ground in Africa to improve standards of living for people and reduce the threats to wildlife. We can make room for elephants in our world without having to kill them.

According to the International Ranger Federation, in the past decade over 1,000 park rangers were killed in the line of duty. What message does it send to African rangers who are risking their lives to stop poachers from gunning down elephants and rhinos, while at the same time rich Americans are throwing down bags of money so that they can do the exact same brutal killing for fun, without any consequence?

During the recent public input stage for the import permit from Dallas Safari Club's auctioned black rhino trophy, the US Fish & Wildlife Service received more than 15,000 comments and 135,000 petition signatures, making it one of the most contentious decisions in the agency's history (most trophy import requests generate three to eight comments each). Americans are solidly against this. They know that killing an animal to "save it" is a backward argument. It doesn't make sense with imperiled rhinos. And it doesn't make sense with imperiled elephants. It's 2015, and we are better than that.

The U.S. government should listen to the American people and stop imports altogether of elephant sport-hunted trophies, and deny any permit requests for trophy-hunted rhinos; that is the only thing that makes sense.

*The poll findings were based on 1,000 interviews among likely voters nationwide. The interviews were conducted online from September 9-12, 2014. The margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level is ±3.1. Poll was conducted by the Beekeeper Group.

Jeff Flocken is the North American Regional Director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).]]>Welcome "Threatened" Listing Would Help Protect African Lions From Trophy Huntingtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2014:/theblog//3.60574182014-10-28T12:29:36-04:002014-12-28T05:59:01-05:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/petition submitted by IFAW and a coalition of animal welfare groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced its proposed rule to list African lions as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

This decision is a victory for lions--until now, the species have been the only great cat not protected under the Act.

African lion populations have decreased by more than half in the last 30 years, with potentially fewer than 32,000 left in the wild. Given the drastic declines, we forced the agency to consider how trophy hunting is contributing to the deteriorating population numbers.

The Endangered Species Act has no authority to stop African lions from being hunted abroad (that's up to the regional African governments), but it can regulate how their trophies and parts are imported and move throughout the United States.

We were pleased today to see that along with the proposed listing decision, USFWS recommended a special rule that would create a new permitting system to monitor and control Americans importing lion trophies and parts--a protection entirely missing up until now.

If the rule is implemented as proposed, lion imports will be limited to hunters transporting trophies from origin countries with a scientifically sound management plan for the species.

This is significant as the U.S. is responsible for importing more than half of all lion trophies brought home by hunters each year. Of course this is not the same as the government banning lion imports altogether--it does, to some extent, leave the species vulnerable to sport-hunting by vainglorious Americans--but it is commendable, and will hopefully prove effective.

We remain optimistic that trophy hunting will eventually rank lowest on the list of the many threats lions face (which also include the bone trade, killing as retaliation for human-wildlife conflict and lost of prey base and habitat).

Today's proposed decision is a good first step in recognizing the dire situation of the African lion.

"I want to congratulate the US government for proposing to list African lions as Threatened on the US Endangered Species listing. This is excellent news. African lions have been decreasing in numbers steadily over the past years, yet most people were unaware because of the ease of seeing prides in national Parks and Reserves. I hope that the proposed listing will be approved - how terrible to lose the 'King of Beasts' from the African scene."

Up until today, trophy hunting has been one of the contributors to the decline of this iconic species. We thank the U.S. government for acknowledging that the African lion is in trouble. Stay tuned to learn how you can support these new regulations and give the king of the jungle the royal and respected treatment it so rightly deserves.

Jeff Flocken is the North American Regional Director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Visit www.ifaw.org to learn about the organization's work to save African lions. ]]>No Cheers for Trophy Huntingtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2014:/theblog//3.55514042014-07-02T17:09:35-04:002014-09-01T05:59:05-04:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/caused a stir when she posted photos online of her posing with imperiled African wildlife that she had hunted. An elephant, a lion, a leopard and a tranquilized white rhino -- which she claimed was conveniently in need of being knocked-out for research purposes -- all being propped up and posed as dead or unconscious trophies for her photo collection. Not surprisingly, the onslaught of comments overwhelming condemned her bloodthirsty escapades.

This is just the latest in a series of high-profile incidents where a trophy hunter attempted to flaunt their participation in this killing sport -- under the unlikely guise of conservation -- and it backfired. The King of Spain, Donald Trump's sons, the CEO of GoDaddy, aspiring TV hunt-show host Melissa Bachman and the winner of the Dallas Safari Club auction to kill one of the last black rhinos in Namibia, are just a few examples of animal killers who found out that they are in the small minority of our population that are willing to tolerate killing charismatic and endangered species for sport.

While most of these hunts may have been legal, they certainly were not ethical. Many of these hunters claim to be "pro-conservation," but they clearly are not "pro-animal" as in the end their trophy kill is no less lethal or brutal than poachers who are similarly robbing the planet of their wildlife.

In this modern day and age, saying that we have to kill something in order to save it is just no longer acceptable. There are ways to help communities in Africa living among (and, sometimes in conflict with) wildlife, that does not necessitate killing the animals. IFAW and other wildlife conservation organizations and animal protection groups are working with local communities on-the-ground every day find real solutions.

Elephants, great cats, rhinos are all struggling to survive in the face of shrinking habitat and unsustainable exploitation. There are fewer than a half million elephants left in the wild, less than 35,000 lions in Africa, and only around 5,000 black rhinos left. As their populations decrease, they unfortunately become more valuable as a trophy. Setting a price tag on the head of magnificent animals because they are rare and worth more dead than alive is the same philosophy that is driving the insatiable markets behind wildlife poaching.

It's easy to see why this young woman and the others like her have stirred up such great emotion. Trophy hunters personify an ugly stereotype of Americans who travel abroad and pay to do whatever they want. This is not how I, as an American, want to be seen or known around the world. Hopefully, the small number of Americans who still revel in this kind of vainglorious exploitation and killing of living things for fun will disappear before all the animals do.

Jeff Flocken is the North American Regional Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). ]]>Melissa Bachman's Sport Killing of a Lion Sends the Wrong Messagetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.43032152013-11-19T18:35:20-05:002014-01-23T18:58:21-05:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/
a). Drugs

b). Lion Carcass

c). Firearms

d). Live Birds

Actually, they are all illegal, with the exception of the lion carcass -- which is incentive enough for those like television host, Melissa Bachman, to travel to Africa to hunt and kill one of the world's most iconic but also severely imperiled species just for the "sport" of it and a photo op.

With as few as 32,000 lions remaining in the wild, the once ubiquitous animals are rapidly disappearing from the African landscape. Habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict are the primary reasons, but trophy hunting is responsible for the slaughter of about 600 of the animals each year.

And, approximately 60 percent of all lions killed for sport are shipped to the U.S. as trophies -- an act made possible by the fact that the African lion is not protected currently by the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The petition was written by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, along with other animal protection groups like Born Free and Humane Society International, and if it is successful, American trophy hunters will no longer be able to bring lion trophies or parts for commercial sale back into the U.S.

Which brings us again to Melissa, and the other American hunters who engage in vainglorious trophy hunts.

The African lion is a species that is experiencing a downward spiral toward extinction. The sport killing of these cats clearly sends a message that these majestic animals are more valued dead than alive, as the much-publicized image of Melissa grinning over the slain great cat certainly echoes.

We hope that Americans will speak up for lions and let the U.S. government know that lions should be conserved and protected -- not shot for fun. Tell the US Fish & Wildlife Service to list African lions as endangered throughout their range under the ESA.

This is how Americans can make a real difference in helping imperiled species like lions (helpafricanlions.org) by celebrating their conservation -- not by glorifying their needless slaughter.

Jeff Flocken is the North American Regional Director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). To learn more about IFAW's work to protect African lions, visit HelpAfricanLions.org. ]]>Banding Together to Ban Trophy Hunting and Protect African Lion Livelihoodtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.25055412013-01-25T21:24:08-05:002013-03-27T05:12:01-04:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/
Last month, Zambia's Minister of Tourism and Arts, Sylvia T. Masebo, announced that specific hunting licenses would be suspended as they had "been abused to the extent they threatened animal populations."

Now, the response of the Zambian government is escalating.

This week the government took the necessary action to ban lion and leopard hunting, citing that populations have abruptly declined in recent years.

As President Ian Khama noted, "The shooting of wild game for sport and trophies is no longer compatible with our commitment to preserve local fauna."

And of course Kenya has had a long-standing policy against trophy hunting, as they banned trophy hunting and dealing in wildlife back in 1977. Trophy hunting was properly cited at the time by the new Kenyan government as "a barbaric relic of colonialism."

The United States government and Americans should keep this progressive movement in mind, and move away from killing for sport, particularly as the petition to list African lions as Endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act is being debated in the public arena and amongst government agencies.

Each year, the United States imports more than half of all lions captured and killed by sport trophy hunters. As the population of lions dwindles, with as few as 32,000 remaining in the wild, we have a responsibility to protect them.

A recent Synovate eNation poll found that if African lion populations are at risk of extinction, 96 percent of Americans believe that trophy hunting of imperiled African lions should not be allowed.

Jeff Flocken is the North American Regional Director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). To learn more about protecting African lions, please visit www.helpafricanlions.org.]]>Slowly But Surely, African Lions Roaming Closer to ESA Protectiontag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.21973122012-12-03T18:30:40-05:002013-02-02T05:12:01-05:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/protections from American trophy hunters still eager to kill them despite their dwindling numbers in the wild. By declaring that the species may warrant a U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing, the Department of the Interior has acknowledged that the scientific and technical petition filed in March 2011 by IFAW and a coalition of animal welfare groups has sufficiently demonstrated that lions are in trouble.

While this announcement clears a critical hurdle in the ESA listing process, of even greater importance is the fact that it officially opens the door for everyone who loves big cats to take action and help make these vital protections a reality.

Starting today, the U.S. government will allow for the public to submit comments on whether or not the species should be listed. The importance of public involvement during this part of the process cannot be overstated. Recent articles in Science and the New York Times attest to the influence the public can have, and the important role we all play, in an ESA listing decision.

The horrifying statistics on the continuing fall of this majestic species speak volumes about the need for protection under the ESA. Over the past three decades, the number of African lions has fallen by more than 53 percent, with fewer than 35,000 believed remaining today in just a handful of countries. And perhaps even more shocking is America's role in this decline, with more than 60 percent of all lion sport hunted trophies and lion parts exported from Africa being imported into the U.S. -- a market that would be virtually eliminated with a U.S. ban on trade in lions that would accompany a successful Endangered listing.

An outpouring of hundreds of thousands of public comments in support of this listing will go a long way in ultimately ensuring that lions receive the protections they need. As a matter of fact, African lions are currently the only great cat not receiving protections from trade under the ESA. And there is no shortage of Americans who think African lions warrant greater protection: A Synovate eNation poll from 2011 found that 89.8 percent of Americans support the U.S. government in taking actions to prevent trophy hunting of African lions endangered with extinction, and 83.4 percent believe that the U.S. government should support international efforts to end the commercial trade of lion products.

Please visit www.helpafricanlions.org to show your courage for lions and submit a public comment. Also, please help spread the word on Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks. With just a few keystrokes, you can have a real impact in determining the future of these incredible creatures. It is time that we answer the roar of the lion, not by needlessly adding to its threats in the wild, but by giving it the opportunity to continue roaming the African plains.

Jeff Flocken is the DC Office Director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). A version of this post also appeared on www.ifaw.org.]]>Another Chance for Polar Bears?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19230262012-09-28T11:51:25-04:002012-11-28T05:12:01-05:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/
Between 2001 and 2010, over 37,000 specimens were traded internationally -representing conservatively at least 5,680 whole bears. This included hides, claws, skulls, trophies and live zoo animals. At the same time, top scientists were predicting that two-thirds of all wild polar bear populations will disappear in the next forty years. One of the most frightening facts: since that vote in 2010, things have only gotten significantly worse for polar bears.

On Sept. 16, 2012, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported the smallest Arctic sea ice cover in history - a full 300,000 sq. kilometers less than ever before recorded. So the actual rate of habitat loss for polar bears is exceeding even the dire predictions made only a few years ago. And without sea ice, polar bears cannot survive. They are dependent on this habitat for hunting their primary food source - seals. As sea ice cover diminishes, polar bears are suffering - with studies showing lower survival rates, decreased reproductive success and reduced body conditions.

On top of this, demand for polar bears in commercial trade has sharply increased, with the price of skins more than doubling since 2008. And some wildlife management authorities in Canada, the only polar bear range country that still allows commercial harvest for trophies and international trade, have been known to ignore the best available science by raising bear hunting quotas despite objections from the scientific community.

For polar bears to have another chance, not only does the global community need to address climate change, but it must rally around this iconic species and protect polar bears from the needless threat of hunting for trophies and commercial trade while there are still polar bears left to save. With another vote at the upcoming CITES Conference of the Parties, polar bears could possibly receive the protections they need. Hopefully this time the nations will leave behind the side-politics and vote purely on the trade and biological criteria that polar bears clearly meet.

The United States was a leader in pushing for greater protection for polar bears two years ago, and can be again today - they just need to submit a proposal for increased protections by October 4th. If polar bears are lucky enough to be considered again for these protections by CITES, the voting countries will have more than enough information to consider when they look at the criteria and the most recent trade and biological data. It all reflects the species' continuingly worsening predicament. The future of polar bears is in the hands of the United States, and hopefully they will give polar bears the second chance they desperately need.

This blog post is also on the IFAW website.

-Jeff Flocken is the D.C. Office Director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).]]>Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend; Ivory Is Her Worst Enemytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.16769342012-07-16T16:36:22-04:002012-09-15T05:12:02-04:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/news that two jewelers and their stores pleaded guilty to marketing what prosecutors said was more than $2 million worth of jewelry and other gifts made from Asian and African elephant ivory tusks. The initial arrests -- which took place earlier this year -- resulted in one of the largest seizures of illicit ivory sold in New York.

Sadly, this story is far from an isolated incident. Rather, it is part of a growing and troubling trend that is taking place around the world: the burgeoning trade in illegal ivory.

A ban on the commercial trade in ivory was put into place globally in 1989, yet just last week, federal authorities reported that seven ivory tusks (along with several other items from endangered species) were seized at Los Angeles International Airport. Earlier this year, Sri Lankan authorities seized around 350 illegal elephant tusks weighing nearly 1.5 tons, marking the single biggest ivory haul in the island nation's history.

This much is clear: Elephants and other endangered wildlife are being killed at an alarming rate by poachers looking to fill consumer demand. Poachers must stop benefiting from this illicit trade and consumers must stop the demand.

But there are positive developments as well -- take eBay for example. A 2008 IFAW investigation entitled Killing with Keystrokes uncovered nearly 4,000 elephant ivory listings online, with most of the sales taking place on eBay's U.S. site. Recognizing the problem, eBay subsequently took the voluntary measure to ban the sale of ivory on its sites worldwide, and since then, sales of ivory on eBay across the globe have dropped precipitously.

From eBay to Manhattan district attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., who prosecuted the recent case in New York, those making efforts to help stomp out the ivory trade should be recognized and applauded.

We must all work together before it's too late. Diamonds may be forever, but elephants won't be without our help.]]>Tragic Losses in the Heart of Darknesstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.16344032012-06-29T11:19:54-04:002012-08-29T05:12:05-04:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/
Such a scenario occurred this past weekend in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) -- the setting for Joseph Conrad's epic novel "The Heart of Darkness." In this wild jungle, the Institute in Congo for the Conservation of Nature and headquarters for the Okapi Wildlife Reserve -- a center devoted to conserving the rare okapi and helping improve the lives of local people -- was over-taken forcefully by a gang of poachers, intent on retaliating against the staff of the center who had been thwarting their elephant poaching operations in the region.

Reports are still coming back, but it has been confirmed that the armed rebels brutally murdered two guards, the wife of one of the guards, and three civilians. They also looted and burned the local village of Epulu, raped the women, and burned down the conservation center which had been functioning as an education center and resource for local people for a quarter century. In addition to helping preserve the rare wildlife of the forests, the Institute had offered local people programs for sustainable food sources, agriculture and fuel, secured access to safe water, provided education opportunities and school supplies, and surveyed the area for illegal mining, poaching and logging activities that rob local people of their community resources.

It is believed that most of the nearly one-hundred local staff and the handful of foreign scientists working at the station escaped into the jungle where they hid for 48 hours, or walked 80 kilometers to the nearest city. But the six slain victims of the rebels were not so fortunate.

Adding another layer to the tragedy, the station was also home to 14 okapi which were kept as ambassadors for the species and used for education, biological observation and breeding. Some of these animals had lived peacefully at the center for two decades, and one had just given birth to a calf only five months ago. In the multiple times the center had been over-taken by various militant forces in the past, never once had one of the ambassador okapis been harmed. This time the elephant poachers ruthlessly slaughtered all the animals at the conservation center. Thirteen of the okapi are dead and one is severely wounded and barely alive.

Okapis are mysterious and rare dwellers of the forest only found in the DRC. They are a unique species, the only living relative of the giraffe, with a deep purple velvet-like coat, an equine build, and the striped hind-quarters of a zebra. They were one of the last large mammals to have been identified and documented because of their elusive nature and ability to blend seamlessly into their jungle environment. There are only believed to be less than 20,000 individual okapis left in the wild. The loss of these magnificent individuals and the destruction of the center devoted to preserving their existence is a monumental loss, both from an animal welfare and wildlife conservation perspective.

As someone fascinated by okapi, I have been following the work of the Okapi Conservation Project and the successes of its impressive founder John Lukas since it was first established in 1987. John is a great colleague, friend and wildlife hero. I am grateful that neither John nor the center's Project Director Rosie Ruf was in the DRC when the attack happened, and I was heartened to learn that most of the staff and visiting conservationists seemed to have escaped. But the deaths of the six victims and the slaying of the innocent and beautiful okapi are beyond the pale and demonstrate the unthinkable cruelty of which humans are capable.

The rampant poaching of wildlife in Africa must be stopped. It is an on-going and escalating crisis for the animals and the people who risk everything to protect them.

We are grieving for the families of the victims, for the survivors who experienced such an atrocity, for John and his colleagues who devoted their lives to establishing and running this station which benefited the animals and people of the region, and for the lost okapis -- wonderous creatures who, like the people of the center and outlying area, did not deserve what happened to them.

Our hearts are in darkness now as we mourn this tragic loss.

Jeffrey Flocken is D.C. Office Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). This post also appears on the IFAW website.]]>A Horned Little 60-Pound Bundle of Hope for Rhinos in Sumatratag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.16249052012-06-27T11:01:20-04:002012-08-27T05:12:06-04:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/gave birth to a baby male rhino calf named Andatu (a combination of his parent's names and a shortened version of the Indonesian expression for "gift of god"). This birth was monumental on a global scale, as Sumatran rhinos are among the rarest species on earth, with every individual animal birth -- and this birth in particular -- vital to stave off extinction.

The birth also had personal significance to me, as I was lucky enough to have met the calf's mother, Ratu, when she was in the middle of her approximately 18-month pregnancy (rhinos have one of the longest gestation periods in the animal kingdom).

In October 2011, I had traveled to Asia to give a presentation at the International Tapir Symposium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (tapirs are a little-known large land mammal, and coincidentally a close relative of the rhinoceros). While there, I joined three colleagues to do a site visit to the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas. We were taken by our hosts from the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) to the breeding facility buried deep in the jungle at a secret location for security reasons. Accompanied by guards from the park's impressive Rhino Protection Unit, they graciously drove us around the expansive natural pens built for their handful of precious charges. The cages were actually large fenced-in pieces of jungle with occasional small shelters built for medical treatment, supplementary feedings and overnight protection when needed.

After visiting a number of these odd relatively-small reddish-brown prehistoric looking animals -- so different than the black and white rhino species I had seen while doing research in Africa -- our hosts pulled over the jeep and told us that we had to be absolutely quiet. We were approaching the pen of Ratu, a female impregnated by one of the males that we had just met. As there had never been a successful captive birth of a Sumatran rhino in Indonesia (actually only four anywhere in the world), this one small female in the distance was carrying the symbolic and literal hope for the species and for all the dedicated guards, scientists and conservationists working to save the animal from extinction. The anticipation and expectations from our guides were palpable in the way they looked and talked about Ratu. It was frightening how much attention and hope was all pinned on this one young creature, a wild born rhino who had already suffered two miscarriages in the past and never successfully carried a baby beyond the first trimester.

We silently and quickly passed by Ratu and her jungle enclosure, but she left an indelible impression on all of us with the importance of her unborn calf. It also put my traveling companions and I among an elite group of people on the planet to have ever seen a live Sumatran rhino -- what's more, the half-dozen that we saw that day at the Sanctuary.

One of the rarest animals on Earth, the critically endangered Sumatran rhino lives in dense tropical forests of Southeast Asia. There are thought to be about 200 individuals surviving in the wild -- mostly in protected areas on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.

One of five species of rhinoceros, the Sumatran rhino is the smallest of all the rhinos and distinct with skin more wrinkled than plated, and tufts of coarse long shaggy hair on its ears and tail. Additionally, captive Sumatran rhinos have been known to have long, sparse hairs all over their bodies -- a feature likely unobserved on wild Sumatran rhinos due to the fact that they are usually covered in mud. Sumatran rhinos have suffered greatly from habitat loss and recently from intensive poaching for its valuable horn, which is believed to have healing properties in the traditional Asian medicinal trade.

The birth of this baby gives tremendous hope for a species that is teetering on the edge of extinction. It wouldn't have happened without the Herculean efforts and collaboration of IRF, the Indonesia Ministry of Forestry and the Rhino Foundation of Indonesia. Additionally, the Cincinnati Zoo provided the captive-born father of the new baby, and worked with other U.S.-based zoos to uncover the husbandry techniques and biological needs for the species in order to keep a small captive population alive.

While this birth in Indonesia gives the world great reason for hope, it happens at the same time that the African rhino, cousin to the Sumatran rhino, are undergoing radically increased pressure from poaching for their horns.

I have never been more proud, and understood the grave importance, of the demand reduction and anti-illegal wildlife trade training work that my organization, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, does in Africa and Asia. I also can't stress enough my appreciation for the vision of my friends and colleagues at the IRF and the Cincinnati Zoo, as well the inspiring men of the Indonesia Rhino-Patrol Units in Sumatra who risk their lives patrolling the forest each night, ensuring that one of the last refuges for this species remains secure. Also worthy of recognition are the many foundations, sponsors and individuals who have donated time, resources and money in order to make sure that this species does not blink out of existence on our watch.

The birth of this baby Sumatran rhino is hopefully just the first of more to come -- injecting new genes, new life, and new hope into a species that many feared might never see another calf born again.]]>Creating a Legacy on Endangered Species Daytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.15254242012-05-18T12:48:32-04:002012-07-18T05:12:06-04:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/Endangered Species Day. Launched by the United States Senate, the annual event takes place the third Friday in May and is celebrated by thousands of people throughout the country at parks, wildlife refuges, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, libraries, schools and community centers.

Endangered Species Day provides an opportunity for people of all ages to learn about the efforts that are currently underway to preserve our world's wildlife populations and discover how they can help support these initiatives. It is also the perfect forum to educate the general public on topics such as wildlife, plant and natural resource conservation and welfare, and the significance of creating a legacy for future generations that we can all be proud of.

Perhaps most importantly, today's celebration offers a platform to discuss the Endangered Species Act, or the "ESA," a critical piece of legislation designed to protect imperiled wildlife and plants from extinction. The ESA has proven vital for the continued conservation of hundreds of species since its creation in 1973 -- some of its most well-known beneficiaries include the American bald eagle, the African elephant, the grizzly bear, the tiger and the Northern Atlantic Right whale.

Unfortunately, implementing the Endangered Species Act is not without challenges. There is currently a laundry list of animals and plants seeking protection, and it has become increasingly evident that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- the federal agencies charged with administering the ESA -- cannot process the petitions fast enough.

This reality is especially disconcerting for animals such as African lions -- a species for which IFAW submitted a technical and scientific petition to list as Endangered under the ESA in March 2011. The review process for listing a species under the ESA now takes anywhere from two to five years to complete, and the sad truth is that irreversible damage can be done to these wildlife populations during that time.

For example, even if the U.S. government finds that African lions deserve the protections from trade that accompany a listing, literally hundreds -- if not thousands -- of individual lions will have been killed and imported into the country by American trophy hunters while the petition review process was underway. For a species that is believed to have only 35,000 individuals left in the wild, this could significantly harm some lion populations' chances of recovery. So while the ESA is still considered one of the strongest and most important animal conservation laws in the world, there is a need to improve the way it is being implemented in order to provide timely emergency relief for species struggling to survive.

Endangered Species Day is guaranteed to be an eye-opening experience for anyone who participates. Today, thousands of Americans have the chance to learn about species in danger of extinction and the tools for -- and challenges to -- facilitating recovery.

With humanity already leaving an omnipresent footprint on the world, the Earth's animals and the ecosystems in which they live are now dependent on us for survival. It is our responsibility to ensure they are on our planet for generations to come. Establishing our legacy for tomorrow begins today.

Jeff Flocken is the DC office director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). For more information about IFAW's work to protect imperiled and endangered animals, please visit ifaw.org.

For additional information on Endangered Species Day and the activities taking place across the country, I encourage you to visit the Endangered Species Day Website and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.]]>Donald Trump's Sons, No Apprentices of Minetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.13446872012-03-15T13:52:32-04:002012-05-15T05:12:01-04:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/pictures just released of Donald Trump Jr. and his brother Eric taken from an African safari the pair went on in 2010 -- during which time they proudly hunted and killed a number of animals including an elephant, leopard, crocodile, kudu, civet cat and waterbuck.

What could have been an opportunity for them to enjoy wildlife in its natural habitat was nothing more than another example Americans hunting wild animals in another country for "fun."

Confronted with poaching, abduction from the wild for the exotic pet trade, habitat loss, retaliatory killings from human conflict, and over-exploitation for trade in parts such as trophies and use in traditional Asian medicines, animals in the wild are already facing mounting threats and an uncertain future. Each year hundreds of imperiled African lions are still killed for sport and imported to the U.S. And just recently, 300 to 400 hundred elephants were slaughtered in Cameroon for their ivory. There is no doubt that wildlife around the world is in crisis.

As a public figure with a famous father, does Donald Jr. really feel the need to exacerbate the issue by smugly holding up an elephant's tail and the knife he used to saw it off? Did they need to hang a crocodile from a tree? Do they not remember the backlash that GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons experienced last year after a video of his elephant hunt surfaced online? Americans are generally not fans of wasteful killing of species already haunted by an unsure future.

The Trumps thought they were doing a heroic deed by donating the meat from the hunted animals back to the villagers. Instead, a more heroic action would have been to forgo the hunt, and donate a small portion of their father's net worth to support the local community and conservation efforts on behalf of local wildlife.

This family should keep their firings in the boardroom -- not with a gun on a vainglorious trophy hunt.

Jeff Flocken is the DC office director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). A version of this article also appeared on the IFAW website. ]]>Conclusions of Trophy Hunting Study Has Lions, Animal Conservation and Welfare Groups Roaring in Disapprovaltag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.12186552012-01-26T10:38:00-05:002012-03-27T05:12:01-04:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/PLoS ONE makes the claim that allowing limited lion trophy hunting in Africa, rather than bans called for by numerous animal conservation and welfare groups, might better benefit the species. With the African lion continuing to roam closer and closer to extinction, the questionable conclusions drawn by the authors of the paper seem contrary to common-sense and the opposite of a precautionary approach to conservation.

As the study confirms, African lions are declining at a shocking rate, and the most recent science shows that in countries where trophy hunting is permitted, lion populations that are hunted with the greatest intensity have suffered the steepest declines. If intensive trophy hunting of lions has been going on for decades and the species has done nothing but decline, why would scientists call for the practice to continue -- albeit along with a plea for reform of the lion trophy hunting industry?

The call to reform poorly managed and unsustainable trophy hunting of African lions is nothing new. Again and again experts have advocated for lower quotas, increased monitoring, and better management, but the sport-hunting continues --along with other growing threats-- and so too does the disappearance of lions from their range. Instead of allowing this needless exploitation to go on, stakeholders worried about the fate of the lions should consider the conservation science-backed Precautionary Principle calling for the removal of any identified and unnecessary threats until the species has had a chance to recover.

The study also lauds the economic benefits of allowing trophy hunting, but it makes no mention of where the money goes other than to say that many of the operations are foreign owned. So it seems like a stretch to then assert that local communities benefit directly from trophy hunting. Regardless of where the money ultimately ends up though, instead of thinking about the short-term economic benefits -- which will disappear when the lion does -- perhaps these communities would be better served by weighing the long-term benefits that sustainable ecotourism can bring. In fact, a recent Synovate poll found that 70.4 percent of Americans would pay to go on an African safari to view lions, whereas only 6.6 percent of Americans would pay to hunt lions.

The lion needs help and the status quo is only worsening the situation. Calling for reform has not worked in the past, nor has a focus on short-term economic gains realized from intensive exploitation. Let's give lions a break and let them recover from all the threats they are currently facing -- habitat loss, retaliatory killings, loss of prey, and unsustainable trophy hunting. After they have recovered, then we can worry about whether or not it is appropriate to start killing them again for sport.

This post first appeared on IFAW's website. For additional information about trophy hunting, visit Jeff's other Huffington Post piece: Killing the King of the Jungle for Fun. ]]>A Much-Needed Win for the Polar Bearstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.10168342011-10-19T13:44:20-04:002011-12-19T05:12:01-05:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/
On Monday, October 17, Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia upheld the decision to ban polar bear trophy imports into the US. This ban first came into effect when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) listed polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in May of 2008. Infuriated hunters from Safari Club International and other trophy hunting groups filed suit against the FWS claiming that the ban violated existing laws and that trophy-hunting actually helps this imperiled species. Luckily, Judge Sullivan did not buy the twisted argument that hunting a species threatened with extinction is good for it, and instead found that import of polar bear trophies violates US law.

This is a major conservation victory for a species already faced with mounting threats including melting sea ice, habitat degradation and pollution. Needless exploitation by Americans for mounted trophies to hang on walls is a threat that polar bears do not need on top of these other complex and difficult-to-address pressures.

I applaud Judge Sullivan for his ruling and hope this outcome will serve as a wake-up call to some Congressional leaders and trophy hunters who still seek to create loopholes in US laws that protect polar bears and other imperiled species. Now, instead of expending valuable resources defending polar bears against unnecessary and expensive lawsuits filed by trophy hunting special interest groups, we can all return our focus to finding solutions to the pressing problems faced by endangered wildlife. Polar bears need solutions to mounting threats in order to survive this century -- not more needless killing.

Jeff Flocken is the D.C. Office Director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

A version of this post first appeared on IFAW's Animal Wire. ]]>Where Will Leos Be Without Lions?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.9193762011-08-08T17:08:34-04:002011-10-08T05:12:02-04:00Jeffrey Flockenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-flocken/Obama, Martha Stewart, Neil Armstrong, Lucille Ball, Magic Johnson, Julia Child, Robert Redford -- all born Leos, under the astrological sign of the lion that has ruled the month of August for thousands of years. Like lions, Leos are said to have powerful personalities, display great boldness and possess leadership qualities. No other creature so accurately personifies the traits attributed to Leos as lions. And no other animal quite commands the attention of the jungle like the lion. But imagine if lions went extinct -- what symbol could take its place? This could happen in our lifetime. Faced with mounting threats, African lion populations are rapidly declining.

Habitat loss has created mounting tension between local people and the king of the beast. When the battle for space is between humans and lions, lions continue to be on the losing end. Lions are also fighting disease, changing habitat from climate change, and poaching for trade in their parts. But perhaps most egregiously, on top of all these threats, wealthy hunters from abroad -- mostly from America -- travel to Africa for the "thrill" of slaying a wild lion and bringing their kill home as a trophy.

No longer do lions cover the plains of Africa cautiously stalking their prey, nor are lions any longer abundant in many of the places where they once regularly amazed travelers on safari. Instead, the Earth is left with as few as 20,000 African lions remaining in the wild.

What would it be like if the lion population really did vanish completely? If you wanted to travel to the African plains and take pictures of lions to show friends and family, you wouldn't have that luxury. Like the dinosaur, movies and television programs about lions would become classified as fantasy instead of reality. And Leos would no longer have a symbol that effectively represented their astrological sign. The Leo's lion would join Sagittarius' half-man half-horse centaur or Capricorn's sea-goat as another fanciful myth, enshrined in eternity as a constellation, but absent as a reality in our world.

It is not too late though. The U.S. government has the chance to address one of the many challenges that the real leos of the plains face. In March 2011, IFAW, along with a coalition of other animal welfare groups, petitioned the US Department of Interior to list African lions as an endangered species under the US Endangered Species Act. If the species is listed, US hunters will be prohibited from bringing African lion trophies back into the U.S., thereby taking away a major incentive for killing this imperiled animal.

The King of the Jungle deserves to be more than just a set of stars flickering in the sky. Leos and all the other Zodiac signs should unite to save this natural icon before it is too late.